Letters: Blame Obama for finance crisis

One of the people we can thank for the current financial crisis is Barack Obama.
Obama partnered with the community organizers' association -- ACORN -- to bully banks into lowering credit standards and making high-risk loans. If they refused, they were labeled "racist."

But, as recently as 2007, our Democratic-controlled Congress -- awash in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac contributions -- refused to allow reforms that could have averted the current crisis. And no wonder.

Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, is the biggest recipient of Fannie/Freddie contributions -- accepting more than $165,000 over 20 years.

The second biggest recipient is Obama, who took more than $126,000 compared to the meager $21,500 McCain accepted.

In 2006, McCain saw this crisis coming and co-sponsored a bill to forestall disaster. Although the Banking Committee passed it, the Democrats killed the bill. So, we also can thank congressional Democrats for repeatedly blocking every vote on financial reform.

Obama vilifies the "wealthy" to gain applause, even though it's the wealthy who provide the investment dollars for economic expansion and job growth.

Every Obama policy involves taking money from people who earned it and giving it to more "deserving" people who didn't earn it. His economic philosophy can be summed up as: "We have to spread the wealth around."

Obama is the same old thing -- a typical Democrat who wants to take your money to increase government size and intrusion. There couldn't be a worse time for Obama to become president.

McCain's policies call for freezes on government spending, smaller government and lower taxes to spur financial investment and job growth.

We need the breath of fresh air our economy needs so it can catch its breath and recover from decades of Democratic strangulation.

Nicole S. Lee
Saginaw Township

Remember the '50s

Editor, The News:

For those of us who can remember the 1950s, "McCarthyism" (the political tactic of making distorted or false accusations about your opponent's past associations), it's dejà vu all over again.

In a last desperate attempt to divert attention from the substantive issues of the 2008 presidential election, the McCain/Palin campaign and its supporters are resorting to McCarthyist tactics. The barrage of negative propaganda around the theme of "Who is Barack Obama?" is a transparent attempt at shifting attention away from what McCain/Palin actually stand for.

McCain/Palin are for a continuing, indefinite occupation of Iraq at a cost of $10 billion a month until some undefined "victory" is achieved. Their "reform" plan for medical care is a $5,000 tax credit with which the individual is supposed to go out on the free market and buy his own medical insurance. Yet, if you have a "medical precondition," insurance companies won't insure you. If you want prescription drug coverage, the cost of a family plan actually will run more than $12,000.

Their tax plan continues the Bush concept of tax cuts for the wealthiest individuals and corporations, including big oil companies. McCain/Palin also support privatizing, to some unclear extent, the Social Security program. And, they want to select judges who would overturn Roe v. Wade, thus canceling a women's right of privacy and freedom of choice.

Differing greatly from the McCain/Palin agenda, Obama/Biden offer policies and reforms that reflect the opinions and interests of a large majority of Americans.

Before casting your ballots, all voters would be well advised to inform themselves on the real issues of the 2008 presidential election. A good place to start is votesmart.org.

John Dinse
Mount Pleasant

Tax agenda exposed

Editor, The News:

I recently saw a video in which an individual, referred to as "Joe the Plumber," asked Barack Obama a question about income and business taxes.

"Joe," whose real name is Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, was referred to more than 20 times by Republican Sen. John McCain in the presidential debate for questioning Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's tax policy.

The following day, the mainstream media went into full attack mode. It became a "How dare Joe," a common citizen, "ask 'The Chosen One' such a question during a campaign visit?"

The reason for this vicious attack was simple. It was Obama's unedited answer to Joe's question. "It's not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody that is behind you, that they have a chance for success, too. I think when you spread the wealth around it's good for everybody."

This exposed Obama's real tax agenda for all to see.

Should Obama and the Democrats win the 2008 elections, it is a sure bet they will take actions through the "Fairness Doctrine" to make sure that we will never see, read or hear anything like Joe's question, the C-Span hearings in 2006 where Democrats insisted that there was nothing wrong with Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, or anything else that could be used to embarrass them, again.

Your vote has never been more important than it will be on Nov. 4. That outcome will greatly affect what will happen to your freedom for the rest of your life.

Ronald F. Picardi
Thomas Township

Clear fantasy?

Editor, The News:

"There you go again," said Ronald Reagan to President Carter in their presidential debate of 1980.

"There you go again" say many readers of The Saginaw News about its endorsement of Dave Camp for the 4th Congressional District.

Your endorsement notes that Camp may have contributed to the domestic auto company loan guarantees and Saginaw River dredging, but that's what your congressional representative is supposed to do -- serve his district. But to attribute to him substantial power on the House Ways and Means Committee is clearly fantasy.

Every Democrat on the committee outranks Camp in power. Simply put, Camp is a Republican serving on a committee, in a Congress controlled by the Democrats. That is not going to change in the 111th Congress.

Camp actually may have less power than Andrew Concannon might have were he elected and appointed to that same committee. Unfortunately, that's the way politics works. If your party is not in power, you're toast.

As with most Republicans, trickle-down economics is Camp's forte, and we know well how that has worked for us. We also know how poorly most of us have been served the last eight years under the Bush administration. Unending war, astronomical increases in the price of health care, food and gasoline, financial collapse, unwarranted wiretapping, denial of habeas corpus, loss of jobs and dissed by the world.

Through all this, Camp has proudly carried the flag for George Bush 95.8 percent of the time. That's more than John McCain (88.1 percent).

Bush, Camp and the Republican Party have failed us. The Saginaw News would better serve its readers and our country by remaining neutral in this important election, or endorsing Andrew D. Concannon. The party that will be in power in the 111th Congress will be the Democratic Party. Help them to mitigate the past eight years.